{this moment} project 231

One extraordinary moment from this week that I want to savor and remember.

What inspired you this week? Share your link in the comments.

Inspired by Amanda Blake Soule at soulemama.

 

camping in recycled+revamped style

Earlier this summer I went to a women's retreat and camped in our van. It's a 1988 Ford van and it has been decked out with curtains and pockets.  There's a bed in the back and it's just perfect for us right now. Of course, I wore my tunic and hoodie b/c they are so comfy. And for those mornings when my hair is crazy - the hat I made at the recycled hat workshop! What am I holding? The last bit of last year's strawberry jam. Since then I've made a whole new batch.

Where is your favorite place to camp?

revamped tanks to tunic

Three tanks for revamping. The tie dye is my favorite, it's from an art fair a few years ago, brightly twisted is the name I think...

First I cut the top of the aqua tank off, just below the trim. Then I cut a band of the green tank and made sure it was close to the same width around as the aqua tank. Since the aqua tank had a bit of a curve, I decided to keep that when I stitched it onto the band from the green tank, using a stretch stitch on my machine.

Then I cut off the top of the tie dye tank with my rotary cutter. It was quite a bit larger than the green and aqua tank, so I sewed it up a bit on the side seams and then slid it inside the other two tanks, right sides together, so I could stitch them up. Since the tie dye part was wider, I had to stretch the green part as I sewed.

If you are new to this technique, you will probably want to pin at the sides and then stretch to pin the front and back, so you have pins in four places. This is also how you would attach elastic if you were making something like underpants. (Yes, Ashlea, I'm thinking of you!) Then you just stretch each section as you sew to make it even.

Then I topstitched both the top and bottom with a stretch stitch to get them to lay a bit flatter. I could have ironed it a bit, but didn't get that far yet...

recycled tank tunic for valentine's day

Here is something to wear with leggings, that works as well as a dress when it's toasty by the woodstove, but also works when you put on snowpants to go outside. Best part is that it's made from stuff in my clothing recycle bin! It helps to have a serger, to do that groovy stitching, but it could be stitched with a stretch stitch and left raw or turned inside for a cleaner look.

I'm working on a few more versions of this same concept, with other tops and recycled t-shirt scraps. Next, maybe I can teach a class and work up a tutorial. Wouldn't this be a cute little girls tunic too?